Try looking for a legal case and you will find not only the names of the parties but also some numbers and random letters along with it. Well, these numbers and letters aren’t there for nothing, these numbers and letters suffixed to the case name are known as the citations for the cases, and play a very important role. Let’s understand how.
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All the crucial incidents across the globe are known to us through magazines, newspapers, articles, and more. Such occurrences are stated in these published materials in order to make one and all aware of what’s happening around the globe. In a similar manner, every case dealt with in the judiciary is recorded and published by notable case reporters, like the AIR, SCC, SCR, and more. These cases are published in both hard and soft copies. This helps in bringing these cases into the eye of the public, which further aids the masses understand the law.
Citations to these cases help identify and locate these cases accurately and quickly.
What is meant by a legal citation?
Before understanding legal citations, let us first understand what a citation is. A citation is actually a path address for an article, web page, book, or any other published material that includes sufficient information to identify it distinctly.In the same subject area, citations to previous material can be found in bibliographies and indices. Citations are used in academic publications to offer details surrounding a journal, book, film, article, or more. This helps readers to identify and locate the material quickly and correctly.
In other words, it is actually a reference to a specific legal source like a statute, regulation, reported case, constitution, or treatise.The basic format of a legal citation consists of an abridged version of the source title, section number or page number, and volume number. A legal citation also consists of the year in which the last verdict had been passed. While there are many citations all over the globe, the Maroon Book, the Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities, and the Bluebook Standard are the popular ones.
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Legal Case Citations in India
In India, a case mentioned in a Law Reporting Journal has a case citation that consists of the names of the parties, the year in which the final verdict has been passed, the volume number, the report series’ name in an abbreviated form, and the page number.
Reading a case citation
No matter how complicated it seems, reading a case citation is not at all difficult. If one follows the above-mentioned components of a legal case citation, a case citation can be easily understood. For instance, if we consider the case Martin vs. Texas, 346 U.S. 282 (1984), it is easy to understand that Martin vs. Texas is the Party Name, 346 is the volume number, 282 is the page number, U.S. actually stands for the abbreviation of the Law Reporter and finally, 1984 is the year.
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Source: vcmp.edu.vn